About 100 kilometers southwest of Ulaanbaatar lies Hustai National Park, a vast reserve covering 50,620 hectares. Like a gleaming gem resting quietly on the edge of the steppe and the Gobi, the park is home to a rich array of wildlife, including the rare Przewalski’s horses, deer, gazelles, wild boars, wolves, and lynxes, which bring vitality and life to this expansive land.
Upon entering the park, visitors will encounter a campsite where they can rest and enjoy a meal. Within the camp are three gray-roofed buildings that house the park’s museum. The museum provides information about the park, displays animal specimens, and also sells souvenirs.
As you walk deeper into the park from the camp, you’ll gradually get closer to the natural habitat of the grassland animals.
Around 5 p.m., it’s the time when many of the park’s resident animals come down from the hills to drink water. This makes the riverside areas deep within the park one of the best spots to encounter them.
The deer with large antlers on its head, the chubby and agile gophers, and the most representative wild horses will all loiter by the river, leisurely wandering across the grassland. If you are interested, you can look for their presence along the riverbank.
When it comes to the wild horses in the park, one must mention the Przewalski’s horse breeding and conservation project. Przewalski’s horses are known as the world’s last truly wild horses, having never been domesticated by humans.
As a nation known as “the people on horseback”, horses have always been vital companions to the Mongolian people. However, the Przewalski’s horse, once roaming freely across Mongolia’s vast lands, disappeared from the country for a time due to human hunting and changes in the climate and environment.
To bring Przewalski’s horses back to Mongolia’s natural environment, the Mongolian people introduced surviving horses from other regions and began breeding them in captivity. Through tireless efforts, the population of Przewalski’s horses in Mongolia eventually grew to over 2,000. Later, some of these horses were released into various nature reserves across the country. Today, Hustai National Park is home to around 350 of them, making it the largest single-area population of wild horses in the world.
In the wild heart of Hustai National Park, come and discover the free spirit of the Przewalski’s horses.
